Seed

There are poets, and then there are real poets. Janice Gould was a real poet. A real poet lays it all down, gives it up, and leans into the sound worlds of words. She is willing to risk everything. The manner and stylings of the day, the meant to be impressive lyrical and theoretical gymnastics of poetics and construction that are tied to the moment, pass by unheeded. Janice Gould was absolutely herself in a poem. I believe that is the best you can say about any poet. She was vulnerable, which was one of her powers. She understood the power of lyric, and how it was utterly tied to music. She gave voice to a complicated identity, to being a Native woman in tortured lands, when to be a Native woman lands you at the bottom of a false power hierarchy. Janice was willing to risk and sacrifice, and see, to really see; her poetry became a tool for vision, compassion, and searing understanding.

-Joy Harjo, United States Poet Laureate Every seed-each pinprick of promise in this green world-is a masterwork. And this Seed, this most recent collection of Janice Gould's poems, is unmistakably the work of a master.

-Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita I have admired Janice Gould's poetry for many years, and now the poems in Seed offer me even more to praise. Such lyric simplicity is hard-earned, and comes from a rare depth of experience.

-David Mason, author of The Sound: New and Selected Poems Seed will open you to the sacred of the everyday. In it, Gould writes the ceremony that is our breath, our lives, our loves. For this gift, for these words, for this gorgeous collection, I am thankful.

-Lisa Tatonetti, author of The Queerness of Native American Literature These are redolent poems, aromatherapy for the skittish soul. They literally made me laugh and cry. These are poems to breathe and live.

-Maria Melendez Kelson, author of Flexible Bones and How Long She'll Last in This World Janice Gould's exquisite collection moves smoothly through love lyrics into narratives that tell stories of struggles as a lesbian in a hostile world. Poems are carefully linked together, leading the reader into a sequence rather than a random collection.

-Judith Barrington, author of Long Love: New & Selected Poems